Question about releasing open source pieces

ruby-talk
1

Our company is considering releasing some tools/packages that we are using
internally as open source to the Ruby/Rails community.

We would like to start off with one piece so that we would be comfortable
with all that is associated
but at this point all we have are some questions:

1. Would it be better for us to set up our own trac or put it on
rubyforge/sourceforge?
2. What amount of documentation would be sufficient for people to be
interested in the tools?

Mark Friedgan

2

1. Would it be better for us to set up our own trac or put it on
rubyforge/sourceforge?

If your aim in releasing these tools is to make a name for yourselves
as a Free Software company, having your own trac would probably be
better. However, if they're internal software you're just releasing
in the hope that it would be useful, then I doubt it would be worth
the time and effort for you to build and maintain your own local trac.

2. What amount of documentation would be sufficient for people to be
interested in the tools?

The more, the better. If you release them with no documentation but
the source, chances are few people will be able to use them, and
they'll likely remain stagnant for a long time. Minimal usage
instructions might be better, and if your tool is perceived as being
widely useful perhaps other people will be enveigled to improve on
what documentation you've written thus far.

···

On 10/18/05, Mark Alexander Friedgan <hubrix@gmail.com> wrote:

3

Mark Alexander Friedgan wrote:

1. Would it be better for us to set up our own trac or put it on
rubyforge/sourceforge?

Unless you plan to release many projects, I'd put it on RubyForge. That's where people go to look for things. You can release it there and get an instant audience, whereas if it's your own site you'll have to rely on announcements, people doing Google searches, and so on.

2. What amount of documentation would be sufficient for people to be
interested in the tools?

Judging from the standard library, very little. (Miaow!)

Sorry, but documentation (or lack of it) is my big peeve with Ruby...

mathew

···

--
<URL:http://www.pobox.com/~meta/&gt;
          WE HAVE TACOS